Fable Legends’ Failure Was Because Of Microsoft Pushing Projects Like DX12, SmartGlass, and Cross-Play On It- Report

Vanity project.

Fable Legends‘ abrupt cancellation, and the closure of Lionhead along the way, still stings- Fable may or may not have been a game you were personally a fan of, but the studio behind it was incredibly talented, and it’s always sad when a game in development, and so many talented artists, get the boot like that.

In an extensive feature on Kotaku about the failure of FableLegends and the closure of Lionhead, Lionhead employees discussed the reasons for Fable‘s failure- they were multifold, naturally, and very nuanced, like these things usually are, but one of the big reasons appears to have been Microsoft’s insistence on making Fable Legends a showcase for literally all of their pet projects at the time.

Essentially, here was a free to play experimental AAA title, and on Microsoft’s insistence, it had already had to integrate technologies such as the cloud, SmartGlass, DirectX 12, and then eventually Cross-Play. It was going to be the showcase for Microsoft’s Xbox-Windows integrated ecosystem strategy- and all of these technologies kept adding to the budget of the project, making it very high risk. How many AAA free to play games, after all, can you think of, and how many successful ones at that?

It appears as though Microsoft being in disarray, and their complete lack of focus over the last few years, cost Lionhead and Fable Legends dearly- and it cost the industry dearly, too, because we lost a great studio in the process.

Sure ms expected them to do certain things as is expected of first party studios of any company…Ms gave them plenty of money and resources but they still couldnt deliver. It used to be a “good” studio but not a “great” one like the article says….but the “good” studio stopped being good after Fable 3…then it turned into a garbage studio.

Not saying it doesnt suck that people lost their jobs. It does. But the fact remains that the studio just wasnt working out.

I’m more pissed off MS shuttered Press Play tbh. They were actually delivering good games and had interesting project on the way. The fact that Lionhead closure gets more media attention than Press Play is just dumb.

UWP/UWA is garbage and only benefits low powered devices such as Smartphones, Tablets & Consoles. If it ain’t w32/w64 it ain’t PC gaming ENOUGH SAID!

sgt_hammertime

Rare and Double Helix did it with Killer Instinct….so what’s the problem with lionhead?

John

Windows Store must die. I can’t install the game on a specific HDD partition, he*k! I can’t even mod it!!! W*F!!! this CLOSED system needs to die, GF*S Microsoft and shove your games up your a**, thank you so much we don’t want you involved in PC Gaming in any shape or form!!! this is PC Gaming, it’s all about openness and freedom, DON’T DARE try to turn it to another XBOX!!!
end of my rant

Sr_Chalice

UWP/UWA is cancer to PC gaming and only benefits low powered devices like smartphones, tablets and consoles. If it ain’t w32/w64 it ain’t PC gaming ENOUGH SAID!